The Return
by SMFA
Summary: Set many centuries after the Battle of Camlann, Merlin and Arthur find themselves in a strange land and time far from home surrounded by unfamiliar people and things. The two must now fit in to the world and bring peace, justice, and freedom to two nations on the brink of civil war.
1. Chapter 1

**Just something from an idea that's been running around in my head for a while. The scenario will play out as I go along. Be sure to keep an eye out for a number of surprises that I have in store for the characters. **

**Merlin and all associated characters are the property of the BBC.  
**

**And now to the story.**

* * *

Chapter I

Returning to the main base seemed to take forever, he had been out west gathering troops for a new group of soldiers from a group of Mustang horses who had been transformed into more humanoid beings they called "Equisapiens" or "_Homo Sapien Equus._" as they were known in scientific terms. No one knew why these creatures came into existence, it had just happened seemingly overnight, nearly seven million horses, stallions, geldings and mares had mysteriously been transformed into these creatures.

Equisapiens were beings that were eighty percent human and twenty percent horse, the height, and hair color depended on both the individual and the breed. The skull was mostly human with a three to four inch equine muzzle protruding from the face. He had created twelve infantry corps of forty thousand men each, however, he was expanding those by adding twelve divisions of mustangs to the ranks, which would have been seven hundred twenty thousand men once training had finished.

The Equine soldiers on their own were among the best in the world, unmatched in courage, strength, loyalty, discipline, ferocity, determination and honor being the highest prized trait. On the plane, a specially outfitted seven seventy-seven that was every bit as luxurious as Air Force One, he sat with members of his staff, his top officers and the twelve new corps commanders he had just commissioned several days before.

All were wearing dress uniforms based off a pattern the General himself had designed in the vein of mid Nineteenth Century uniforms, they were a solid forest green color sack-type coat and trousers, they had a standing collar, single breasted with gold piping along the seams. Black leather knee boots that came halfway up the calf, black leather saber belts, their sabers stored in the over head bins for the duration of the flight.

The most prominent of the bunch was sitting across the aisle in his dress uniform looking out the window. He was a Kieger Mustang with buckskin color body hair and a head of thick, black hair that came down to his shoulders. This was Major General John Dakota, the commander of the First Mustang Infantry Division. Next to him was Major General Jimmy Kobalt, a tall, and very strong paint stallion, he was the commander of the Second Mustang Infantry Division.

Across from them sat the Commanders of the Third and Fourth Mustang Infantry Divisions, in the four seats behind them were the commanders of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Mustang Infantry Divisions, and the four seats on their other side were occupied by the commanders of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Mustang Infantry Divisions. In the seat next to the General sat his Adjutant and right hand man. Colonel Brian McDoogle a stallion who stood at five foot seven, had dark brown body hair and a head of short, but thick black hair. Across from them were the two officers he trusted the most, on the right was his second in command, and the commander of the First Equine Corps, Lieutenant General Edward McDale or "Ed" as everyone called him. He was a tall Clydesdale stallion, about six foot seven, had a coat of Chestnut color hair, a head of long, black hair and a white blaze down the middle of his face.

On the left, was a much shorter officer standing at five foot six who was the General's oldest and closest friend, so close they were practically brothers. He had a light brown coat of body hair, darker brown, almost black hair from his elbows down and short, thick black hair on his head. This was Major General Dale Reiter, Commander of the First Equine Infantry Division. The General was the most important person on the plane being the commander in chief of all military forces under him and the supreme commander of what they referred to as the "Freedom Alliance". He was an average size man with short black hair and a well groomed mustache and beard. To compliment his position, he was gifted with a mastery of strategy and tactics despite having never gone to a military academy. He sat in his seat with his trusted canine companion, Jake, a fawn Great Dane who was laying with his head in his lap, going over a list of troop rosters while scratching his dog's head. He looked over at General Dakota, still staring out the window.

"John, you alright?" The General asked with some concern; "You've been starin' out the window the entire flight." General Dakota looked towards the General and replied, "Partly because I've never flown before and I've left behind everything I've ever known."

"Don't worry about it, you'll adjust soon enough." The two went back to what they were doing as the captain came over the intercom, "Attention all passengers, we are ten minutes out from the home airfield, at this time we ask that everyone prepare for landing."

When the plane had landed and taxied to a stop, the passengers on board were greeted by an honor guard in dress uniforms and carrying their M-one Garands with bayonets fixed. A set of stairs was wheeled into place in front of the open forward hatch on the port side. The officers on board with their swords clipped to their belts exit down the steps, across the tarmac lined with soldiers with their rifles at "Present Arms" to awaiting vehicles, eight olive drab Ford Escapes with white stars on the hood and on the sides.

After several minutes, the vehicles drove forward and out of the airbase. Along the way, General Dakota marveled at the buildings and vehicles that they passed by, as one might do going from a primitive setting to a modern one. He was amazed by the architecture and level of technology before him and could not fathom how it all came to be.

After fifteen minutes of travel, the vehicles pulled into the parking lot of a massive building taking up fifty thousand square feet of space. The outer walls were made of reinforced cinderblocks with wooden walls on the interior except the nerve center which was built into the side of a hill and had a viewing area for visitors that looked down on the staff, desks and the backs of computer monitors facing them. The officers got out of their vehicles and started towards the massive structure.

"What is this place?" General Dakota said in amazement, to which the General replied, "This is the Command HQ, the nerve center of the entire base. All the major decisions are made here. We prefer to have staff on duty at any time, in ten hour shifts, eight thirty to five thirty, five thirty to two thirty and two thirty to eight thirty. That way we always have fresh bodies on post." The group entered the building and walked towards the main offices passing by the receptionist's desk, past many rooms and offices and hallways. They stopped at a set of windows looking down on the control room, several hallways led to offices and a meeting room.

Next to the windows on the right side was a door with a key card lock that led down a flight of stairs to the control room. The General unlocked the door and led them down into the control room, "This is the Control Room where every situation is monitored." The General began as he approached the center of the room; "When we get reports of a possible crisis that is underway, we immediately put a drone in the air so we can monitor the situation in real time as it happens."

Up on the wall below the viewing windows were three monitoring screens and in the corner was a stack of four lights, blue, orange, yellow and red. The screen in the center had a map of the United States that resembled the Electoral College map with all of New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, all the Great Lakes states, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii highlighted in blue and all the other states in red. The screens on the left and right were blank at the current time as they weren't being used at the moment.

The General then led the group down a hall to the meeting room, once they entered, they could see a large room with a round oak table that had enough space to seat twenty-five people. After a while, the General, Ed, Dale, Brian, General Dakota and several others left the building to go to lunch.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

He had never been so scared in all his life, first his friend had been severely wounded in battle by a sword, and was dying, and the next thing he knew he was in a strange world where carts moved about on their own without horses pulling them. Things flew overhead, the structures around him were of an unfamiliar architecture, the clothing was unlike anything he knew.

Nothing seemed to make sense, but he knew that unless he got help he would lose his friend, "HELP!" he shouted through his tears; "SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HELP US!" he shouted the same words over and over again for several minutes, it seemed as though no one heard him, then, a group of people came rushing up, "Please, you have to help me," he said pleading; "my friend is dying!" the first person to reach them, a man in a green jacket and trousers, knelt down next to them.

One a young man with raven black hair, a tan jacket, a blue shirt and a red neckerchief, the other young man with blonde hair and dressed in chain mail and plate armor with a stab wound on the left side of his abdomen. The latter clutching a sword in his hand. The man reached down and put two fingers under his friend's chin and paused while he felt for a pulse. "He's alive, but just barely." He said looking behind him; "Brian, go get one of the staff cars, this man needs immediate medical attention!" Brian turned and ran back to the parking lot to get their staff car.

The blond haired man opened his eyes and very weakly said, "Merlin, where are we?" "I don't know Arthur," Merlin said hoarsely; "but this man here is going to help us." The man referred to as "Arthur" looked at the man kneeling next to him and said, "Who are you?"

"General Mike Flynn, Commander in Chief of the Patriot Military Forces and Supreme Commander of the Freedom Alliance." The General replied to which Arthur said, "I am Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, and this is my servant Merlin." General Flynn looking down at Arthur said, "We're going to get you to a surgeon as fast as we can. My adjutant is going to get transport, he should be back shortly." General Flynn looked up at Merlin, "What happened to him?" he asked to which Merlin replied, "Run through with a sword, a piece of the blade is inside him."

"Help me get his armor off, it will make our surgeon's job easier." The two sat there for a minute while gently removing the armor and chain mail, General Flynn took the sword that was in Arthur's hand and passed it back to Ed. Neither Merlin nor Arthur questioned why the man in front of them took Excalibur, Merlin knew they did not want him to go crazy when he recovered, if he recovered from his injuries.

Just then, Brian and two drivers returned with three cars, got out and opened the back door, laying the seat down and opening the back hatch. Then Ed and Brian picked up the weak Arthur and carried him slowly, and gently to the first vehicle and gently laid him inside, General Flynn, Dale and General Dakota putting the armor and sword in the second. General Flynn approached Merlin and said, "You want to come with us, we're going straight to the base hospital." Merlin stood and said, "Yes, I will come with you, I want to make sure nothing goes wrong."

The group of them got in the vehicles Brian, General Flynn, Dale and Merlin in the first vehicle Ed, General Dakota and General Flynn's eldest adopted son, in the second, and his two other adopted sons in the third. The three vehicles raced as fast as they could down the roads towards the hospital.

General Flynn picked up the radio receiver, dialed in the hospital frequency and pressed the talk button, "General Flynn to Base Hospital, General Flynn to Base Hospital over." He released the button and someone on the other end answered, "General Flynn, this is Base Hospital, what do you need sir?" General Flynn replied, "We have a severely injured man we are transporting directly to you, have a stretcher ready to get him to an O.R. We will be arriving outside the ER entrance. ETA five minutes. Over."

"Roger that, we will be ready when you arrive. Over and out." The person on the other end said before the two hung up their receivers. After a pause Merlin asked, "What was that black box you spoke into?"

"That was a two way radio, a communication device." General Flynn replied as the convoy sped towards the hospital. Merlin knew it was not magic, but an advanced technology. He looked down at the barely conscious Arthur hoping, and praying that he would survive. "Are you a wizard by chance Merlin?" Dale asked looking at the two with some interest, "Yes, I am a wizard, or a warlock depending on the term you use." Merlin replied as the convoy entered the parking lot of the hospital. "Alright gentlemen," General Flynn said looking around the vehicle; "as soon as we stop, we all need to get out as quickly as possible so we can give the stretcher bearers room to work. Brian, as soon as we are out and have Arthur on the stretcher I need you to take the cars around and park them."

"Yes sir, will do." Brian said as the cars pulled up to the emergency entrance where two medics met them wheeling a gurney to the side of the vehicle.

General Flynn, Dale and Merlin got out as fast as possible while the medics carefully carried the Once and Future King out of the vehicle and carefully lowered him onto the gurney and strapped him down. "Are the straps really necessary?" Merlin asked with some skepticism, "Th' straps are for Arthur's safety," Ed said in a Scottish accent; "would no' be a good thin' if they were to drop 'im."

"Makes sense." Merlin replied crossing his arms as the cars drove off. The two medics then wheeled the gurney back through the automatic doors, the group of officers following behind. They stopped at a desk to sign the patient in, a staffer behind the desk handed them a clip board with a form and a pen. They signed him in as "Arthur Penn" since the name Pendragon might attract unwanted attention, a white male, early thirties, from Britain. Merlin not content with just watching gave as much information about his friend as he felt was necessary.

A voice called out from down the hall, "Merlin!" Merlin turned to see the figure of Sir Percival, he smiled, "Percival, what are you doing here?" The two approached each other and shook hands, "One thing I know I had found Gwaine barely conscious and the next moment we were by the roadside. A soldier by the name of PJ found us and brought us here. Apparently Sir Leon, Sir Lancelot, Sir Kay, Sir Tristan, Galahad, Bors, Ector, Lionel, Gwen and Gaius are here as well, but are waiting in the main lobby of this hospital. Gwaine is currently undergoing treatment."

General Flynn turned to the two and said, "Why Merlin, who is your friend here?" "Sorry sir," Merlin turned to face the General; "this is Sir Percival." The two shook hands, "Percival, one of the most well known of the Knights of the Round Table, next to Gawain and Lancelot, and of course King Arthur himself." General Flynn said with a smile; "I am General Mike Flynn, Commander in Chief of the Patriot Military Forces, and Supreme Commander of the Freedom Alliance."

"An honor to meet you sir, while I am here, I am at your service."

"Likewise Percival, I am indeed honored to have you here."

"How's Arthur?"

"He's going into emergency surgery to remove a piece of a sword blade that was broken off inside him."

"Good, I hope your surgeons can save him. It would be a tragedy to lose him."

"I agree, a man like King Arthur is hard to find these days, a good leader with good moral values."

"That he is sir."

"Indeed. Now, I would like to meet the others, I'm sure my other friends here feel the same."

Percival looked at Ed, who seemed like a giant, but was easy to see that he was no threat. "Lieutenant Gen'ral Edward McDale, Commander of the First Equine Infantry Corps." Ed said with a slight nod, "I am Major General Dale Reiter, Commander of the First Equine Infantry Division." Dale said shaking hands with Percival, General Dakota did the same, "Major General John Dakota, Commander of the newly formed First Mustang Division." General Flynn turned to his three adopted sons, "Johnny, Jacob, Anubis, wait here until Colonel McDoogle arrives, tell him we are in the main lobby." He said to which Jacob replied, "Yes, sir, we will wait here." The majority of the group then walked off towards the main lobby.

John, Jacob and Anubis were very unique, in terms of their genetic make-up. Jacob the eldest, at just over twenty-eight years, was the size of an average man with an average build. He was not an Equisapien, his head was mostly human with ears that were partly shaped like those of a Great Dane, from the bridge of his nose a four inch Great Dane muzzle. His entire body except his nose, the palms of his hands and the bottoms of his feet was covered in a coat of short, brown well groomed hair and a head of short, thick, black hair. On his hands he had half inch long, sharp, black nails.

The second eldest was John, who was twenty-seven years of age and stood at five foot six. He was fair skinned with short blond hair and a blond moustache and goatee. Anubis was the youngest at twenty-one years was similar in many ways to the appearance of the Egyptian god of the same name, except his head and neck were covered in brown hair, and the rest of his body was bare revealing a well built and very muscular body and a light suntan.

The lobby was fairly large with enough seats for one hundred people, for the most part the room was silent, with mostly military and their dependents, the only things seemingly out of place were ten individuals in medieval dress, seven in chain mail shirts, an older man in plain clothes and a woman in a fine dress fit for royalty. Most of the men were conversing amongst themselves, but the woman and the old man were watching a news station where the anchor talking about an explosion at an oil refinery somewhere in Texas.

The woman saw Merlin walking their way accompanied by some strangely dressed men, she stood, ran up to him and gave him a hug, "Hi Gwen!" Merlin said returning the hug.

Gwen broke off and said, "I'm glad you're here. Where's Arthur?"

"He has been brought in for emergency surgery." Merlin replied before turning to General Flynn, "Gwen, this is General Flynn, he found us on the side of the road and brought us here." Gwen looked to the General with a look of gratitude and said, "I can't thank you enough for saving my husband. I'm Guinevere, but all my friends call me Gwen."

"Don't mention it ma'am," the General replied with a slight bow; "I have an obligation to help wherever necessary. In regards to your husband, he's not out of danger yet, the surgical procedure he will go through is a very delicate one, so it will probably take several hours. In the mean time, I'll take you so you can have some lunch and then we'll go to our headquarters and get you set up with a place to live and something to do while you are here. It's the least I can do." Gwen smiled and said, "I appreciate the offer, I really do, but we don't have any of your currency."

"Not to worry, we'll cover the bill." General Flynn replied gesturing to himself and his colleagues, one of the men in mail approached the group.

"General Flynn, Sir Lancelot, Knight of Camelot." He said shaking hands with the General who replied, "Lancelot, the noblest and most famous of all of King Arthur's knights, and the only one who ever beat Arthur in a joust."

"That is true sir," Said Lancelot; "Arthur was none too happy about it." "I bet."

Another knight, Sir Leon approached, "Sir Leon, second in command to King Arthur." He said as they shook hands.

The older man approached, "I am Gaius, the court physician at Camelot, I will look forward to serving your people here." The two shook hands and then General Flynn went around shaking hands with the other knights as they went around meeting those in General Flynn's entourage. After a few moments of idle conversation, the group exited the hospital and walked across the street to a restaurant called "Café Equus" for a well deserved meal.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

Lunch at Café Equus went better than expected, they had had a descent meal, made polite conversation and became good friends. Afterwards, they had gone back to Command Central Gwen, Gaius, Merlin and the other knights were amazed by the size of the building itself. "What is this place?" Gaius said looking around at all the gadgets and other technology as they entered the lobby.

"This, my friends is the Command Center where all the major decisions are made." General Flynn leading the group down the hall to the main security door; "We will go down to the conference room and we'll discuss your housing and job arrangements." The General scanned his badge and opened the door, "If you'll follow me." He then led the group of them down the stairs, across the control room floor, down a corridor and into the conference room.

"A round table, like we have in Camelot." Gwen said open mouthed, "Yes Gwen," General Flynn said stopping in front of the table; "ours was inspired by the Round Table of Camelot. I believe in the same ideals and virtues that Arthur does. Freedom, equality among men, justice, honor and truth. We have seats for twenty-five, symbolizing each of the Knights of the Round Table and are generally reserved for my twenty-five most trusted officers and staff members."

"Who are the most trusted officers and staff members if I may ask?" Lancelot asked looking at the table, "General McDale, General Reiter, Colonel McDoogle, General Harvard, General John Flynn, General Jacob Flynn, Sergeant Major Anubis Flynn, Admiral Quincy, General Klein, our chief of covert operations, Mister S, our treasurer, Howard Clarkson, our Chief Meteorologist Dave Timmer, Press Secretary Tom Dupree, my foreign allies, Field Marshall Schmidt of Germany, General O'Rourke of Ireland, General Claude of Canada, General Miller of Britain and General Sawyer of Australia, my three domestic allies, General Bonner of the Militia Coalition, General Ziegler of the Western Armies and General Palmer of the Midwest Coalition, our chief medical officer Joe Scott, and the chief of security Harold Mason " The General replied walking around to his chair, "If you'll pardon me saying so, you are short a person." Merlin said considering the number of people versus the number of chairs.

"Yes Merlin, that is true, I am looking for an extra person to fill that position. Take a seat and we'll get started." General Flynn replied sitting in his chair, the others doing the same. "Percival, I can give you and the other knights several options for something to do. You can become part of the security service that protects all the high-level officials here in our headquarters, I can put you with one of our special operations units or I can summon Mister S and you can be the third option."

"What does "the third option" entail?" Percival asked, "The third option are the units and missions that don't exist on paper, basically going on missions to knock heads, collect sensitive information, eliminate key targets, that sort of thing. It's generally a very dirty business that most honest men shy away from."

"I see," Percival replied looking around; "I do not think I would want to be involved with the third option as of yet. If anything, I would rather work in security to keep you and the rest of the leadership safe."

"As would I." Said Lancelot, "And I." said Leon.

"And I" said Sir Tristan.

"And I." Said Galahad.

"I would too." Said Ector.

"And I." Said Sir Lionel.

"I however am very interested in being part of the third option." Said Sir Bors and Sir Kay responded with, "I would as well."

"Very well then," General Flynn said jotting down notes; "I will have to speak to Sir Gwaine and Arthur when they have been discharged from the hospital. Merlin, what do you want to do?"

"I feel it would be appropriate for me to continue serving Arthur." He replied

"Alright, and if you would like, I will see about arranging driving lessons so that you can get yourself and him from place to place." The General said to which Merlin replied; "That would be fine with me General, I will look forward to learning a new skill."

"Very good," General Flynn writing down some notes; "Gwen, if you like, I can get you in contact with my wife Drew, and she can help you adjust to this new life. She, Ed's wife Molly and several of the other wives tend to get together often."

"I would like that very much, thank you." Gwen replied with a smile. "General, while I may not be able to fight," Gaius said looking towards General Flynn; "I can still offer you my services as a physician, and lend my knowledge of traditional herbal remedies."

"I would be grateful for your services." General Flynn replied writing down more notes; "Bors, Kay, I will give Mister S a call so he can evaluate you. Lancelot, Percival, Leon, Tristan, Galahad, Ector, Lionel, I will have Brian notify Harold Mason so he can get you signed up. Merlin, Gaius, Gwen, I will call Drew so you have something to do until word comes through about Arthur. In the mean time, you can go into the lounge, we have plenty of things to do in there, chess sets, a pinball game, an air hockey table, and a television among other things. While you are doing that I will have some housing prepared for you. You may go."

They all stood and started to exit. "I will notify you of Arthur's condition as soon as I receive any news." Flynn finished with a smile, Gwen nodded and Brian led them out of the room. "Ed." General Flynn said to his second in command, "Yes sir, wha' do ya' need?" he replied.

"When does the next full moon cycle start?"

"In two weeks sir, why do ya' ask?"

"So I have plenty of time to give our guests plenty of warning about Drew's condition."

"Ah, I see me brother. If ya' ask me, if tha' young man in th' hospital really is King Arthur it could work ta' our advantage."

"How so?"

"Remember in the legend how when the need was greatest he would return to lead his people to greatness?"

"I see where you're going with this. If he is who he says he is we can say that King Arthur has returned to bring greatness to the world. Glad I chose you as my second in command."

The two stood and exited the room heading towards the main office.

Merlin, Gwen and Gaius entered the lounge somewhat slowly not knowing what to expect. They saw a few chess sets at one side of the room, a pinball game in the far right corner, an air hockey table, a free throw game, a water cooler and two vending machines. On the wall to the left was a thirty-two inch plasma television mounted to the wall that was currently tuned to BBC America which was airing a "Doctor Who" marathon, currently it was on a Tenth Doctor episode in which the Doctor and his companion Rose were alongside Queen Victoria battling against a werewolf.

In the middle of the room was a three seat couch, a coffee table and two comfy chairs. Immediately, Merlin walked over to the pinball game studying it and quickly figured out that the goal was to use the flippers to keep the ball moving to rack up as many points as possible. He pressed a button that read "start" underneath and started playing. Gaius and Gwen were quickly entranced by the antics of the Doctor and the storyline itself. Some of the knights sat at the chess tables and started a few games, Percival started trying to get a few baskets, Sir Leon and Lancelot began a game on the air hockey table while everyone else sat and conversed amongst themselves.

After a while, a man in a gray suit, with graying hair stepped in, "I am Harold Mason, chief of security," he said with his hands behind his back; "I am looking for Mister Lancelot, Percival, Leon, Tristan, Galahad, Ector and Lionel." The knights named stopped what they were doing and exited with the man.

Merlin having got his fill of pinball meandered over to the couch and looked at the television, then at Gaius and Gwen, then back to the television and back at Gaius and Gwen, "What's this all about?" he said with a smirk, Gaius turned to the young man next to him, "It's called 'Doctor Who'. About a man called 'the Doctor' a being from another world who travels through time and space with a companion in a blue box." "Huh." Merlin said looking at the television seeing the Doctor and an oddly familiar face on screen; "That man on the left has an almost frightening resemblance to Uther."

"I know, it's rather uncanny." Gaius said turning back to the program. Brian then entered the room, "Bors, Kay, Mister S is ready to see you now." He said gesturing to the other two knights in the room, they then exited with him going down the hall. Not seeing anything else to do, he sat down and started watching as well.


End file.
